vtoroi

Vtoroi is the transliteration of the Russian word второй, which means "second" in the ordinal sense. It functions as an adjective or numeral indicating position in a sequence, time, or ranking, and it agrees with the noun it modifies for gender, number, and case. Common uses include second floor (второй этаж), second day (второй день), and second half of the month (вторая половина месяца).

Morphology and grammar. As a numeral adjective, vtoroi is declined like an ordinary Russian adjective. Masculine singular is второ́й, feminine singular is вто́рая, neuter singular is второ́е, and plural is вторы́е. In oblique cases the forms change in the usual way: genitive второго, dative второму, accusative masculine второ́й, accusative feminine вторую, prepositional втором, and so on. The word always conveys order rather than quantity, and its use is restricted to positions in a sequence, rather than to the exact count two.

Usage notes. Vtoroi contrasts with the cardinal two (два) and with other ordinals such as первый and третий. It appears in phrases like второй по счёту (second in order), во втором полугодии (in the second half of the year), and вторая половина дня (the second half of the day). It is also used in titles or headings to indicate the subsequent item in a series, or in descriptive labels such as “second edition” when rendered in Russian as второе издание, though this uses feminine/neuter variants to agree with the noun.

Etymology and related terms. Vtoroi derives from Proto-Slavic *vьtorъ and is part of a family with первый (first) and третий (third). It is the standard way to express ordinal position in Russian and is widely used across formal and colloquial language.